With various Tamron deals being available and flash sales during different months, we thought it made sense to update our guide to Tamron prime lenses. Granted, they haven’t released a prime lens in a while. However, what’s available is truly great. The guide includes not only the newest lenses available for mirrorless cameras, but also their DSLR lenses. And if you still shoot DSLRs or want to adapt something to your mirrorless camera, take a look at our guide before making a purchase.
The big changes that went into the new guide include revamped sample images, tech specs, a summary of what makes each lens great, and our signature quote from each review. To clarify, we don’t include products in our feature roundups if we haven’t reviewed them. This is a major part of our Editorial Policies and practices.
Tamron’s 20mm f2.8, 24mm f2.8, and 35mm f2.8 are really good lenses at affordable prices. They’re also weather resistant and fast to focus. We hope they come to the Nikon Z lineup since Nikon is now officially working with Tamron. Honestly, the 20mm f2.8 is one of the best affordable wide-angle lenses available. And if a Nikon Z mount option comes out, I hope the Tamron name sticks with it and the lens stays affordable. Honestly, I’ve sometimes spent more on a special dinner than I would on that lens, and it’s incredible to know what’s possible.
If you had to ask me about my favorite lenses, they’d be the Tamron 35mm f1.4 and the Tamron 85mm f1.8. When I tested each of those, I was taken back at how great they were. When the Tamron 35mm f1.4 was in my hands, I wondered why they hadn’t made the lens for mirrorless cameras instead. It’s one of the last great DSLR lenses I’ve seen and used. With weather resistance, beautiful colors, and bokeh worth drooling over, it’s easy to see how one could be covetous of the owners of this lens.
But the Tamron 85mm f1.8 also provided some of the most unique image quality I’ve seen in years. Indeed, the render looked like someone turned the clarity up in the photo while also making the colors pop intensely. I just wish Tamron would make that lens for Sony FE or Nikon Z mount. Ultimately, I wish they’d make it for Canon R mount, but that’s unlikely to happen at least for a while.
Tamron, for some odd reason, has never released a lot of prime lenses. Perhaps that’s because there’s a smaller demand for them from the greener photographers. After all, people step up from their smartphones for the zoom potential. They also make far fewer lenses with their own brand name than Sigma does.
Lastly, you should know that the new update to Guide to Tamron Prime Lenses is sponsored. Tamron has been a long-time sponsor of the Phoblographer and we’re thankful for that. As we’ve also seen, you folks really like their lenses too. And more of you end up purchasing their lenses only to see for yourself how much value you get in the package.